Because Nobody Likes IKE

Just in case you missed it, thousands of Ohio residents became the latest victims of the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Since a huge-a-freakin-normous wind storm passed through our area on Sunday night, we became a tally mark on the long list of areas without power. The storm, ironically without a single drop of rain, left mounds of destruction and debris all over our neighborhoods, tattered homes and uprooted trees from their cemented bases. I haven't even had a chance to post a picture of our lovely, new sun canopy we've added to our back patio, the one that has the nice netting panels with split sides that roll back and the one that Eric just (Saturday night) strung the frame with rope lights, but it's that one that is now bent, warped and uneven as a result of the high winds. I would have loved to show you how pretty it was. But not anymore.

Also, I had wanted to reserve a chunk of time Sunday evening to write about my parent's weekend visit and how we had such a good time hanging out and not doing too much of anything but laughing and playing with the kids, and how they had to drive back to their house in the thick of the wind storm. Alas, no power, no blogging, just good memories.

What I can do is recap some of our days living like the amish. After only an hour without power, I was desperately missing my luxurious, well-lit, appliance-efficient lifestyle. Hello Spoiled American. After nearly 72 hours of camping out in our house, we finally regained power on Wednesday morning. It was a blessed event if ever there was.

Things that I have learned to love about being in the dark:

Really getting to know how resilient my kids are. Although Elaina had asked to watch Noggin every single day without fail, she really made considerable adjustments and has enjoyed reading bedtimes books by the light of the lantern and sleeping in our bed. The power outage hasn't fazed Lincoln in the least. I've paid more attention to how well my kids play together and entertain themselves with the toys that they have in front of them. Their easy dispositions have made this ordeal bearable for all of us.

I never take friendships for granted and friends with generators available for loan are even better! We were able to save most of the food from our refrigerator and freezers, including the half side of pork we just picked up 10 days ago.

I found myself enjoying earlier bedtimes for all of us. We had to get the kids into a quick bedtime schedule since it becomes pitch black outside and inside, right around 8:00. And since there isn't particularly much housework I could do without power cords and appliances, and most certainly no internet browsing, I was able to fall asleep to the tune of the frantic hum of the generator around 10:00.

Lord, what would we have without a gas hot water heater? Take cold showers, that's what we would do. Amen! for hot water showers and no water shortage! And candlelit showers are always calming don't you agree?

I very much enjoyed the team work and partnership of my husband. Since we had limited time before the sun went down and lantern time began, we learned to rush through our evening routine to keep as much consistency for the kids.

As anal as I may be sometimes about having everything in it's proper place and housework kept up as much as possible, I certainly found it all working in our favor while accessing things that we needed by candlelight.

Since Wednesday, things have gradually been getting back to normal around here. There are still plenty of people without electricity, but we all have to consider ourselves fortunate that we've hardly had the burden and hardship to deal with as the residents in Texas. And even though I found myself shaky and filled with anxiety about what our week had in store for us as the electric company predicted an entire week without power, we managed and we managed well.

Tomorrow is Sunday once again and the forecast is looking sunny. I still plan to reserve a chunk of time in my evening to finally post some pictures and hopefully get back in the swing of things on the blog front. Until, let our thoughts and prayers be with those who have suffered even greater burdens than us without lights and conveniences.